Police clash with protesters in Ukrainian capital

Security forces clashed with protesters as they began tearing down opposition barricades and tents set up in the centre of the Ukrainian capital early Wednesday, in an escalation of the weeks-long standoff threatening the leadership of President Viktor Yanukovych.

Several thousand police in riot gear used their shields to push back protesters and successfully removed some of their tents and barricades. But thousands of protesters, their ranks swelling through the night, put up fierce resistance for hours, shoving back at the police lines to keep them away from the centre of the protest camp on Independence Square in downtown Kiev.

The protests began in late November when Mr. Yanukovych backed away from a pact that would deepen the former Soviet republic’s economic ties with the 28-nation European Union a pact that surveys showed was supported by nearly half the country’s people. The agreement would make Ukraine more Western-oriented and would represent a significant loss of face for Russia, which has either controlled or heavily influenced Ukraine for centuries.

Demonstrators, waving EU and Ukrainian flags and singing the national anthem, shouted “Shame! Shame!” and “We will stand.” Scuffles broke out between police and opposition lawmakers, one of whom laid down on the snow trying to block a vehicle from advancing on the camp. An Orthodox priest sang prayers, and one protester undressed to his waist in the frigid air, got down on his knees and shouted “Stop this … We are one people!”

Several protesters were injured. Some policemen helped injured activists up from the ground and moved them away.

Kiev police said authorities were merely trying to clear the streets leading to Independence Square, but not to remove the main encampment, the Ukrainian Interfax news agency reported.

Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko, who is the reigning world heavyweight boxing champion, urged Ukrainians to rush to the centre of the capital to defend democracy.

“We will say no to a police state, no to a dictatorship,” he told protesters in the square.

The confrontation at the protest camp unfolded as EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland were in the city to try to talk to the government and the opposition and work out a solution to defuse the crisis.

Aiming to defuse the crisis, Mr. Yanukovych had called Tuesday for the release of the demonstrators previously arrested in the protests and vowed that Ukraine is still interested in integrating with Europe.

Soon after Mr. Yanukovych spoke in a televised broadcast, top opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk told demonstrators at the square that the protest leaders were still insisting on their key demands- that Mr. Yanukovych fire the government, appoint a new one committed to signing an association agreement with the EU, release all the arrested protesters, and punish police who beat peaceful demonstrators.

Riot police have twice previously dispersed demonstrators with clubs and tear gas, beating some severely enough to send them to intensive care.

Mr. Yanukovych, in a televised meeting with Ukraine’s three previous presidents, said he had asked the prosecutor-general to ensure the release of some of the protesters those who haven’t committed grave crimes and who have children or families.

“Certainly, such people will be released,” the president said.

Investigations into the actions of the freed protesters would still continue, he said.

Mr. Yanukovych also vowed to renew talks with the EU on the trade and political agreement. He indicated he was still willing to sign the EU deal at a summit in the spring, but only if the EU can offer better financial terms. He said at present, the EU agreement could cost economically struggling Ukraine billions in lost trade with Russia, which has used trade threats to try to keep Ukraine in its orbit.

“We want to achieve conditions that satisfy Ukraine, Ukrainian producers, the Ukrainian people,” Mr. Yanukovych said in the televised meeting. “If we find understanding and if such compromises are reached, the signature will be put” on paper.

The EU’s enlargement commissioner, Stefan Fule, said on Tuesday the bloc was ready to step “up the European Union’s financial assistance programs to help Ukraine implement the agreement, when signed.”

But Mr. Yanukovych appeared unreceptive to the criticism voiced by Leonid Kravchuk, Ukraine’s first president, who said that beating protesters was simply unacceptable.

“Law enforcement must know that it is forbidden to beat people. And there can be no justification” to do so, a stern Mr. Kravchuk said, sitting with Mr. Yanukovych and the two other former leaders at a table decorated with blue-and-yellow flowers the colours of the Ukrainian flag.

Mr. Yanukovych insisted both sides were guilty.

Mr. Kravchuk and his successor, Leonid Kuchma, hinted that Prime Minister Mykola Azarov’s resignation could help resolve the crisis, but Mr. Yanukovych did not comment on that.

Ukraine’s dire economic straits have also been a factor in its political crisis. The country of 46 million people has been in recession for more than a year, and the government is in desperate need of foreign funding to avoid a default.

Moscow has worked aggressively to derail the deal with the EU and lure Kiev into its own economic group by offering price discounts and loans as well as imposing painful trade restrictions.